# Making Wineador Drawers



## Stradawhovious (Oct 17, 2012)

Lets make pretend I want to make some drawers for my wineador.

Now, if this were to happen, which it likely will, I would want to cut my costs to a minimum because I'm a cheap bastard. My thoughts were to use a plywood base with a spanish cedar laminate rather than solid spanish cedar. In that case I would need to use an adhesive to make that happen.

Does anyone have any experience with this? What kind of adhesive should I use to eliminate any chance of gasses ruining my sticks?

I could use regular titebond, but working with veneers, tightbond is a pain in the ass. I was hoping to be able to use some sort of contact adhesive.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!


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## StogieNinja (Jul 29, 2009)

I'd think that if you were to use a laminate, why use Spanish Cedar at all? Why not just make it out of another wood altogether? Spanish Cedar you want for the way it helps maintain the rH, so if you're not going to use it, I wouldn't bother with laminate at all.

Frankly, spanish cedar isn't _that _expensive, and I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I imagine that you might end up paying as nearly as much buying three products (laminate, adhesive and plywood) and have to deal with issues you wouldn't have to deal with if you just bought Spanish Cedar...


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## Stradawhovious (Oct 17, 2012)

I hear you. With me though the differnce is I likely already have everything i need sans the laminate, which isnt that expensive.

Also, i was under the impression that woods other than cedar would might give an off flavor. If not, I can just use bass and be done with it.


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## thebayratt (Jun 4, 2009)

Don't use plywood. The glues aren't that good and eventually will seperate with the constant humidity. You can get exterior plywood, but after spending that type of money (plus SC vaneer), you could get SC. TiteBond 2 is food safe and I highly recommend it. Contact adhesive is a pretty harsh glue. You ever catch a buzz off it?? I wouldn't want to infuse my good cigars with it.


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## Gdaddy (Sep 20, 2012)

I agree with Shawn. Plywood leaches out some nasty odors.

My advice would be to do real Spanish cedar. You've gone this far. Solid cedar shelves run from $10 to $17 and I don't think you can do it cheaper by doing it yourself.

Accessories - Custom Wineador™ Creations


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## David_ESM (May 11, 2011)

I was looking at building drawers myself. When I did the math the wood cost for me locally was going to be about $5 cheaper per drawer than buying them... My time and effort and possible screw ups negate the savings. Just ordered. Love them.


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## Stradawhovious (Oct 17, 2012)

David_ESM said:


> I was looking at building drawers myself. When I did the math the wood cost for me locally was going to be about $5 cheaper per drawer than buying them... My time and effort and possible screw ups negate the savings. Just ordered. Love them.


Honestly, I'd rather pay more and make them myself. I'm goofy that way. :lol: Not saying I'd do any better myself than the links offered, just that I enjoy playing with tools and glue.

I went with some solid bass wood. I have some here. I left slats in the bottom of the drawers for breathing, and lined them with the spanish cedar inserts from cigar boxes. They fit really well. Tomorrow I will go to the wood store an grab some nice figured maple veneer to put on the drawer fronts.


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## Gdaddy (Sep 20, 2012)

How are you going to apply the veneer to the drawer fronts? Most veneer is glued with contact cement. Nasty odors. I don't see why you couldn't apply a thin layer of wood glue instead and apply a press until it drys.

The drawers I made were glued with good old Elmers wood glue. I made two drawers out of Spanish cedar from Rocklers. They cost a total of about $50 for supplies.

I agree that making them is far more fun and rewarding and are exactly what I wanted.


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## Stradawhovious (Oct 17, 2012)

Gdaddy said:


> How are you going to apply the veneer to the drawer fronts? Most veneer is glued with contact cement. Nasty odors. I don't see why you couldn't apply a thin layer of wood glue instead and apply a press until it drys.
> 
> The drawers I made were glued with good old Elmers wood glue. I made two drawers out of Spanish cedar from Rocklers. They cost a total of about $50 for supplies.
> 
> I agree that making them is far more fun and rewarding and are exactly what I wanted.


There are plenty of places you can get 3M adhesive backed veneers that are already gassed out, or odor free. More likely, since the drawers are small I will just use some titebond, a flat surface and a couple of clamps.

Here are the pre-veneered drawers. Not that pretty yet, but they more than doubled the capacity of my winearor. They will look much better when I get the fronts veneered.

A couple of nails, a very light application of titebond II on all connecting surfaces, I have some very light, odor free all natural solid wood drawers that fit really well for less than $15 for the pair. The drawer bottoms are made from 1 3/4" x 1/4" slats with about a 1/2" gap between them. I laid (loose) the Spanish Cedar inserts from cigar boxes in the bottoms. Now all I have to do is make some removable dividers (and veneer the fronts of course) and I'm all set!

Also, to be fair, I only used hand tools on these, so they aren't as pretty as they could be. I'm counting on the veneer to make them prettier.


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## Gdaddy (Sep 20, 2012)

They look great and certainly inexpensive.


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## Johnpaul (Aug 15, 2011)

David_ESM said:


> I was looking at building drawers myself. When I did the math the wood cost for me locally was going to be about $5 cheaper per drawer than buying them... My time and effort and possible screw ups negate the savings. Just ordered. Love them.


This is what I found as well when I contemplated the same thing and am very happy with my Forrest drawers.

I hope the drawers work out for you but I have my doubts about your choice of wood. I found an interesting post from a few years ago that you might want to look at regarding the bass wood... http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/v...an-used-instead-spanish-cedar.html#post903871


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## Stradawhovious (Oct 17, 2012)

Johnpaul said:


> I hope the drawers work out for you but I have my doubts about your choice of wood. I found an interesting post from a few years ago that you might want to look at regarding the bass wood... http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/v...an-used-instead-spanish-cedar.html#post903871


Wish I would have seen that earlier. Now the whole ordeal just seems like a waste of time. I would think wood would be hard pressed to rot at 65% humidity, well, without exposure to actual liquid water that is.

Time will tell. Thanks for the link! In the mean time, I will probably just replace them when I get around to it, and use them in the mean time.

ETA... I just looked at the pile I grabbed that wood from . It's Poplar, not bass. Either way though......


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## Johnpaul (Aug 15, 2011)

Spanish Cedar is commonly used not just because of it's smell and ability to impart flavor, but because it is highly rot resistant and has the ability to hold more water than most other kinds of wood. Mahogany you can easily find here in the states has the same rot and humidity benefits as SC and personally is the way I would have gone if I built mine myself. If you look over threads you will find the people who use solid wood humidors and wineadore drawers built from SC or Mahogany have a lot less problems with humidity stabilization than the folks with veneer.


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## Stradawhovious (Oct 17, 2012)

Johnpaul said:


> Spanish Cedar is commonly used not just because of it's smell and ability to impart flavor, but because it is highly rot resistant and has the ability to hold more water than most other kinds of wood. Mahogany you can easily find here in the states has the same rot and humidity benefits as SC and personally is the way I would have gone if I built mine myself. If you look over threads you will find the people who use solid wood humidors and wineadore drawers built from SC or Mahogany have a lot less problems with humidity stabilization than the folks with veneer.


Yeah, I knew that about the Spanish Cedar with moisture retention and aroma which is why I went with a SC liner, but wasn't aware that people avoided Bass and the like due to rot issues.

Like I said before, I'm going to chalk this up to an experiment, and see how it fares while I search out some suitable Spanish Cedar.

Also, I'm still not convinced that poplar _or_ bass would rot at 65% RH without sustained contact with liquid water. I would be interested in reading further into that. I might just put my sluething hat on for that one, unless someone already has a link they can provide.


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## android (Feb 27, 2012)

look good! hope they work out for ya.


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## Gdaddy (Sep 20, 2012)

An alternative would be to laminate over the poplar with Spanish cedar veneer. I believe Rocklers carries sheets. I would NOT put good cigars in a poplar box. Wood has definite odors that will impart flavor in your cigars.


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## Stradawhovious (Oct 17, 2012)

Gdaddy said:


> I would NOT put good cigars in a poplar box. Wood has definite odors that will impart flavor in your cigars.


Neither would I! I have used some spanish cedar liners from cigar boxes and lined the insides of the drawers with that. That and I went to my local wood store (Woodcraft) today ang got enough spanish cedar to line the drawer fronts, and do a more complete job of lining the drawers. The sticks will only come into contact with Cedar.

I thought far enough ahead for that one.


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## pittjitsu (Mar 30, 2012)

I think those drawers will outlast you. Will it expand and delam? Maybe, but they sure aren't rotting.


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## Stradawhovious (Oct 17, 2012)

pittjitsu said:


> I think those drawers will outlast you. Will it expand and delam? Maybe, but they sure aren't rotting.


I think you're probably right. I will make new ones eventually ou of spanish cedar, but I'm going to take my time finding it. I'm thinking drawers with pull out racks etc. i will take my time with those, and use the proper tools so they don't turn out to be as "homemade" looking as these.

Here is a pic of the drawers with the veneer. For a quicky job I'm really happy with how these turned out!


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## pittjitsu (Mar 30, 2012)

I think different choice of draw handles would fancy these right up. Just MHO


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## Gdaddy (Sep 20, 2012)

Agreed. The knobs don't do it justice.


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## Stradawhovious (Oct 17, 2012)

I don't mind them. They were the only ones at the local hardware store that were a low enough profile to still allow the wineadoor to close (see what I did there?), and cost less than a hundred dollars a piece. There were others with a lower profile as well, but they were too big for the drawers themselves. All in all with the drawers I'm about $30 in for materials. Personally, think that's a win.

$30, and I can haz them right now, without weeks of waiting? Sign me up.


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## stonecutter2 (Jul 12, 2012)

Stradawhovious said:


> I don't mind them. They were the only ones at the local hardware store that were a low enough profile to still allow the wineadoor to close (see what I did there?), and cost less than a hundred dollars a piece. There were others with a lower profile as well, but they were too big for the drawers themselves. All in all with the drawers I'm about $30 in for materials. Personally, think that's a win.
> 
> $30, and I can haz them right now, without weeks of waiting? Sign me up.


I like the drawer knobs. I think those drawers look fantastic. The veneer really made 'em look great, and for the price that can't be beat. Well done!

I'm pretty sure the two humidors I have probably have paper thin SC veneer on them, and I've never had a problem with humidity or a bad smell. I think your drawers are probably better than what a typical cheap humidor would have in it


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## aphex242 (Oct 24, 2012)

Yup, nice work. I love DIY stuff myself, but after figuring it all out (and weighing my inexperience and the likely crappy result), I ordered from Forrest. lol


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